Chap. 403.—An ACT to incorporate the Benevolent investment and relief usso-
ciation of Virginia.

Approved February 19, 1898.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That G. C.
Coleman, James H. Blackwell, James H. Cunningham, senior, L. W.
Giles, W. H. Hatcher, George W. Cunningham, J. P. Harris, James H.
Hayes, Edward Parham, Frank L. Williams, Joseph T. Hickman, and
Cornelius Mimms, Junior, and such other persons as are now or may
hereafter be associated with them be, and they are hereby, constituted a
body politic and corporate by the name of the Benevolent investment
and relief association of Virginia, and by that name shall have perpetual
succession and a common seal, may sue and be sued, plead and be im-
pleaded, and in all respects shall be invested with the rights and _ pri-
vileges conferred and subject to the restriction and regulations prescribed
for corporations by the general laws, so far as the same are applicable to
this corporation and not inconsistent with this act.

2. Object. —The object of the said association shall be to establish in
the state of Virginia, with chief office at Richmond, Virginia, a benevo-
lent investment and relief association of Virginia to the extent of provid-
ing and maintaining a fund for the relief of widows, orphans, or
beneficiaries of deceased members of said association, or of such other
persons as may insure therein. The said association shall be, and is
hereby, authorized to establish such branch office or offices in this state
as to them shall seem proper, and are further authorized and empowered
to establish such oflice or oflices and to conduct their said business in
any other state or states of the United States, subject to the laws of the
state or states, respectively, in which they so do business. And the said
association shall be, and is hereby, authorized to issue such policies,
certificates of membership, or other writing, showing and setting forth
the said membership and the benefits to be received therefrom, and to
receive such premiums and in such amounts and at such times, either
weekly, monthly, yearly, or otherwise, as to them shall seem proper.
The said corporation hereby created shall have power to receive
money on deposit and grant certificates therefor whenever it thinks
proper to do so; to borrow money and execute notes for the same; to
invest the money received on deposit or belonging to the said corporation
in, or lend the same on, notes, bonds, bills, or any other security, real
or personal, or use the same in purchasing or discounting bonds, notes,
bills, or other securities for the payment of money, and to receive tli
interest therefor in advance ; to purchase or otherwise lawfully acquire,
and to have and to hold and to likewise sell and convey or encumber
or otherwise dispose of any real or personal estate which may be neces-
sary for conducting its business, and any other real or personal estate
necessary for securing any debts that may be due to said corporation.

3. Capital stock.—The capital stock of said association shall consist
of five hundred shares of stock of the value of ten dollars each, being
five thousand dollars, and the corporators, or a majority of them,
named in the first section of this act shall have power to open books o!
subscription at such times and places as they may deem expedient, and
when not less than one hundred shares have been subscribed and ter
per centum of them thereon shall have been paid in the shareholders
may elect seven directors to serve until the next annual election or unti
their successors shall be duly elected and qualified, and the directors sc
elected of said association may, and they are hereby, authorized anc
empowered to have and to exercise in the name of the association al
the rights and privileges which are intended to be hereby given, subjec’
only to such liabilities as other shareholders are subject to, which ha
bilities are no more than payment to the association of the sums due o1
to become due on the shares held by them.

4. Duties of directors. —The board of directors shall make all by
laws necessary for conducting the business of the association, which by
laws shall at all times be accessible to all persons transacting busines:
with them. The directors shall have power to require payment of th
amount remaining unpaid on the stock of the said association at sucl
times and in such proportions as they shall think proper, subject to ex
isting laws concerning chartered associations, the said assessments to b
made as the by-laws of the association shall direct. The said board o
directors shall elect and for good cause remove all officers necessary fo
the proper and safe conduct of its business.

5. Taxes.—All'taxes, dues, demands due or to become due by thi
association to the state of Virginia shall be paid in lawful currency o
the United States and not in coupons.

6. This act shall be in force from its passage.